China Entertainment: I have been a director since 05

Chapter 381 Lao Chen was silent, and there was a vague figure of his father!

The time when he received the Golden Alarm Clock can be said to be the most painful time for Brother Chen Kai.

My ears are not at peace, and my heart is not at peace either!

At the time, he was a professor at the New York University Film School in the United States, and the biggest stimulation he received was not the professionalism and technology of the film and television industry.

But...money!

The year Zhang Yimou won the award, he knew very well that Zhang Yimou could make a lot of money.

As for his filming of "The King of Children", it was a painstaking and even tortuous one. There was a problem with the camera in the middle, and all 114 shots were scrapped, and three hundred thousand dollars was directly wasted.

Three hundred thousand in 1987.

At that time, he almost burned his own heart into it.

Later, the film was overturned because something went wrong with the copy exported, making it the worst copy of any film submitted to Cannes in more than 30 years.

Brother Chen Kai hadn't experienced the feeling of failure for a long time. After that, he was very proud. "Farewell My Concubine" washed away all the shame on him and made him the most powerful director in the film industry.

Because before this movie, his "Sing and Walk" had already been nominated for the Palme d'Or, but it just didn't win.

From this perspective, among directors who have won the Palme d'Or in China, he and Guan Ling are equally matched, except that Guan Ling has won more Best Actor and Best Actress awards than him.

The movie "Farewell My Concubine" grossed 4800 million RMB in mainland China.

Sold $3000 million worldwide.

That was 1994.

So since then, Brother Chen Kai has paid special attention to box office data and the feeling of making money.

But it must be said that although his box office did not meet his psychological expectations after "Farewell My Concubine", no one, including investors, actors, or other directors, said it to him in person.

He is only suitable to be a photographer.

This sentence directly broke down Brother Chen Kai's defense.

His mind was spinning. Sixteen years had passed from his high-spirited days to the present moment when he was sitting in front of Guan Ling.

He experienced the bad ending of "Feng Yue",

He had experienced the great failure of "The Emperor and the Assassin", when he built the Qin Palace with 27 halls, which shocked even Uncle Beaver Mel Gibson.

This location is bigger than the entire Warner studio.

With an investment of only 1000 million, the box office only sold 200 million, and that's the global box office. The mainland box office... million.

He also experienced Hollywood's ruthless abandonment and the online ridicule of "The Promise". Although "Mei Lanfang" helped to save his reputation a little, he has never been able to make a comeback.

People say that he followed the market taste but failed to grasp the market.

Some people even accused him of being the most creative person in the Chinese film industry.

But he always had a strong desire in his heart, which was to prove that he was not.

No one in the industry would say anything bad about him.

But today, Guan Ling tore off the mask on his face and also tore open the most vulnerable defense in his heart!
He is broken!
And he was also very clear that he did have problems.

Regardless of the box office performance of "The Orphan of Zhao", Brother Chen Kai has made it very clear in terms of word of mouth alone that those who scold him online cannot be said to be trolls.

Many people praised the first half of his work as a masterpiece, but the second half as rubbish.

These words are not unprovoked.

Just like Lu Wei, the screenwriter of Farewell My Concubine, there are many rumors about them. Even when The Promise was a big hit, some people spread rumors that Lu Wei had commented on The Promise: After watching The Promise, I have full confidence in Chinese fantasy blockbusters. I thought that was the starting point. I never expected that it would be the end point.

But in fact, only Brother Chen Kai himself knows that after "Farewell My Concubine", "The Emperor and the Assassin" and "The Promise", the two of them parted ways completely and never collaborated again.

At that time, Lu Wei made more than 20 suggestions on the script alone.

At that time, Jiang Wen also thought that there was something wrong with the script.

But he turned a deaf ear and couldn't listen at all.

He also gave the script of "The Promise" to Lu Wei. Lu Wei told the script countless times that it was not good and that he couldn't understand it. He also told Lu Wei countless times that it was a good script.

Is Reed a black spot?

Is Jiang Wen a hater?

Brother Chen Kai knew it very well, but he just didn't want to admit it.

But at this moment, Guan Ling pointed at his nose and squeezed the abscess in front of him!

……

"Director Guan, what do you think I should do?"

After the two of them were awkward for a few minutes, Brother Chen Kai didn't get angry, nor did he stand up. Instead, he sat there and raised his head to ask.

"If you can't read a story or write one, then just follow the script. Don't add drama. You just need to film the script according to the content of the script and your personal directing style. Everything should be based on the story first. You can still be saved."

Guan Ling did not point fingers at him and added, "You always immerse your so-called sincerity in cultural mission. You are very ambitious. You want to transcend history. You want to grasp certain characteristics that you want to explain. You are ready to present your pattern in your film, just like reciting a poem.

You are trying to show your sophistication, but your lines are empty and your characters are disorganized, and the audience is paying for all this.

So you will definitely fail.

It's not because the audience and fans don't have a broad vision, don't have high aspirations, or don't talk about grand things, but because you added too much drama and too much personal stuff, but you don't have the ability to do it.

You are a good director.

But you need a good screenwriter to give you a beacon, and you need a good producer to guide your path. You yourself seem to have not realized that you only have one advantage left.

Your camera language is very sophisticated.

Other than that, you’re a sucker.”

…………

After Guan Ling finished speaking, Brother Chen Kai was stunned.

If the sentence just now that he was only suitable to be a photographer made him swallow his anger, after hearing the following string of words, Brother Chen Kai forced himself to suppress the urge to bang the table.

But Guan Ling hadn’t finished speaking yet: “In fact, before you came, I also read a lot of comments from the audience about you. You have a lot of epic perspectives, but you can’t film them at all.

In the movies you direct, there is always a dad who is in trouble, dangling in the air, with disheveled hair…"

Brother Chen Kai has been silent.

Guan Ling's words gave him a wake-up call.

Brother Chen Kai was choked for a moment and had no idea how to respond.

After thinking about it for a while, he was indeed like that. With just a few words, he actually summarized the most common elements in his movies.

In fact, he understood what Guan Ling said.

Although what the other party said was straightforward enough, he did not completely attack his own ideas.

In fact, there is a hidden judgment in the other party’s words!

self!

Form is more important than content, and they are unwilling to lower themselves in order to instill their own ideas into the audience!

Brother Chen Kai admitted these problems.

Because he really always wants to express his point of view.

In fact, netizens have been discussing for a long time whether "Farewell My Concubine" and "The Promise" were filmed by the same person?

Some people also said that his father acted as a gunman.

But no one knew that when the play was first given to him, he had no intention of filming it.

The producer at the time, Xu Feng, told him that although his story was not strong, the atmosphere of storytelling was good, and the script was based on a popular novel, so everything had a basis.

The other party persuaded him for a whole year and told him that making a movie requires an audience.

Otherwise, no matter how good the photos are, they will only be for your own enjoyment.

It’s better to take a camera and film it, then watch it slowly when you get home.

At that time, his father expressed the same view as the producer.

And he was not yet an internationally renowned director at the time, so he solved the problem and filmed Farewell My Concubine exactly as planned, which was a huge success.

Since then, there has been no more successful works.

Although there are occasional gains, compared with Guan Ling, it is just a work that makes up for the investment with low box office.

If Guan Ling was an absolute hot commodity in the eyes of investors, he has become a piece of chicken ribs.

It's tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw it away. Netizens mocked him, and investors' respect for him seemed to be no longer as comfortable as before.

Brother Chen Kai certainly felt these changes.

But that sentence

"Besides that, you're pretty bad."

Or let him completely shut down.

……

"I understand the truth, but not many people dare to say this to me." Brother Chen Kai's mood was ups and downs at the moment, "My wife has never said this."

He was stunned for a moment, "Director Guan, what is your opinion?"

"I think what's best for you is to work for a film company and let specific people plan your film. All you have to do is focus on making a good film."

Guan Ling extended an olive branch.

"Or, you can set up your own company to invest, but you can't use your own people to handle the screenwriting and production. If you insist on having your own say, the box office of the movie will be completely ruined. Your expertise lies in the language of the camera. In other aspects, you are not professional."

This is the best way Guan Ling could think of for Brother Chen Kai to shoot a movie.

Brother Chen Kai is a good director, but he is only suitable to be a tool.

"Then, Director Guan, do you have any movies for me to film now?"

Chen Kai suppressed his complicated feelings. He just put up with being a tool. As long as he could make a good movie, he would accept it.

"Have."

Guan Ling looked up at him with a calm and indifferent gaze.
"To be honest, I have so many movie scripts that I'm worried. I can't shoot them all!"

“Are you human?!”

Brother Chen Kai was stunned! He was confused. In fact, for big directors like them, they have seen countless scripts.

If someone else said this, he would just smile.

But Guan Ling said to eat it.

He really almost couldn't fall asleep.

This is the winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay!

Brother Chen Kai's breathing couldn't help but become heavy.

"I heard before that when Cheng Long first came to Lingyun Media, it was Director Guan who confused him with the script. Now it seems that what he said is true."

"When he came, I took 10 books, and he has only filmed three so far. Not only can I not film them all, he can't act them all either. Also, I don't have enough directors to film them all."

Guan Ling's voice was extremely calm.

Brother Chen Kai looked up in fear several times and almost cursed in his heart.

Can’t take pictures?

Can’t act it out?

"Are they all good scripts?" he asked a question.

“It’s definitely not worse than The Promise and The Orphan of Zhao.” Guan Ling’s answer made Chen Kai choke.

My head is buzzing.

There was another long silence.

"Can I read the script?"

"can."

Guan Ling took out a script and gave it to Brother Chen Kai.

When he saw the name of the script, Brother Chen Kai was a little surprised.

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

What kind of script is this? Is it a myth?
After watching it with a puzzled mood, Brother Chen Kai became more and more excited.

This is a fantasy movie.

It’s of the same type as another film his team was discussing before.

Just before The Orphan of Zhao was released, his team found a good story for him.

Based on the masterpiece of Japanese fantasy literature master Baku Yumemakura, "Monk Kukai: The Great Tang Ghost Banquet".

The original author, Baku Yumemakura, went to Xi'an alone for an investigation when he was 30 years old, and then spent 15 years to create this fantasy novel. The story is centered on Kukai, a Japanese monk who went to the Tang Dynasty to seek Buddhist teachings, and tells a series of stories triggered by the death of Yang Guifei.

At first, he was going to talk about this.

However, the huge scale of the production and the requirement for joint investment from China, Japan and the United States made Chen Kai himself somewhat unsure.

What's more, there is news about the cooperation between Guan Ling and Zhang Yimou.

It completely stimulated him.

He envied Guan Ling's wild and unbridled imagination.

The play was shelved.

And also because of the fantasy movie, he didn't think he could make it.

But this one is fantasy.

Guan Ling just mentioned his shortcomings, but he still gave him a role in a movie like this. Does that mean he values his ability?

Brother Chen Kai lowered his head to read the script.

There are laws in the underworld. All the dead will go through seven trials within 49 days after death.

They are respectively carried out in the prison of murder, the prison of laziness, the prison of deception, the prison of injustice, the prison of betrayal, the prison of violence, and the prison of family.
Only the dead who have been declared not guilty after seven trials have a chance to be reborn.

"Reincarnation?"

This description gave Brother Chen Kai a vague feeling of watching Infernal Affairs, and also a sense of alienation and absurdity.

He had never filmed anything of this type.

He likes real shooting, not special effects.

Keep looking down,
Firefighter Li Zihong unfortunately died while trying to save a girl during a fire.

The messengers of hell Jie Yuanmai and Dechun appeared in front of Li Zihong.

Although Li Zihong could not believe his own death, Dechun told him in a serious tone that he was both a dead person and a good person.

At the entrance to hell, Li Zihong met another messenger, Jiang Lin, who was waiting for him at the Chujun Gate. He was in charge of the two messengers, Jie Yuanmai and Dechun, and would also defend Li Zihong in the seven trials that he was about to undergo.

The more he looked, the more confused Brother Chen Kai's mind became.

He really didn't know how Guan Ling came up with such a fantastic thing.

It seems like the underworld.

It seems not.

It seems like there are many Yama judges, but they are not exactly the same.
This made his curiosity reach its peak.

As he continued to read, his breathing became heavier.

The Stone Mill Hell that judges the sin of laziness,

The fiery hell where murder is judged,
The abyss of hell that judges violent crimes,

The hell of tongue-pulling for judging the sin of lying,

The mirror of hell that judges the sin of betrayal,

The icy hell that judges unjust sins,

The Buddhasha Hell where family sins are judged...